Southwest Airlines, which has become the top carrier in the California market in recent years, said Thursday it will open a fifth flight attendant base in Oakland for 495 employees.
The discount specialist said it will open a temporary base in October and a permanent facility around Thanksgiving at Oakland International Airport.Southwest already operates flight attendant bases in Dallas, Houston, Chicago and Phoenix. About 2,700 of its 15,000 employees are flight attendants and 10 percent of its work force is in California.
"We have so much activity in and out of Oakland that it is time to locate a crew base here," said Bill Miller, Southwest's vice president of in-flight services. "A larger presence in Oakland also allows us to prepare for any future growth within the Pacific Northwest and California."
The announcement came on the same day that United Airlines disclosed details of its Oct. 1 launch of its discount United Shuttle in California, with 184 daily flights on eight routes.
When United's management first disclosed plans last month to take on Southwest in California, Southwest responded by saying it would start operating long-haul flights and add six Boeing 737s to its fleet.
Southwest has been the nation's most consistently profitable airline in recent years. It has expanded aggressively in California and elsewhere by targeting secondary routes, then taking over markets when rivals abandon them.
Southwest reported last week second-quarter earnings of $58.5 million, or 40 cents a share, up 38.8 percent from earnings of $42.1 million, or 29 cents a share, in the year-ago quarter. Revenues were up to $661.1 million from $568.3 million, mostly reflecting the planes and routes acquired late last year as part of its $135 million Morris Air buyout.